Oil burner



April 18, 1933. V B. A. CLAYTON- OIL BURNER Filed Aug. 12, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l B. A. CLAYTON 1,903,858 .011. BUM-[QR Filed Aug. 12, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 18, 1933.

/44 I I E 1 mgmroa- Patented Apr. 18, 1933 PATENT OFFICE,

BERT A. CLAYTON, OF IKEWANEE, ILLINOIS OIL BURNER Application filed August 12, 1931. Serial Ito. 556,521.

my invention are 1. To provide an improved oil and air feed-" ing system for oil burners,'usable for hot air and hot water furnaces, boilers and smelting furnaces;

2. To provide improved means for'drlvlng the fuel oil and the air to the burner and for maintaining an equal pressure upon both air and oil;

3. To provide an oil sealed gear pump or compressor for compressing air and hav ng means for separating the air and the sealing oil.

I attain these objects by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawmgs, in

"which,- y v Figure 1 is a side elevation of a furnace with my feeding system appl ed thereto;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same showing a part of the pivot column and on pipes broken away; I

Figure 3 is a top orplan VIBW Of my apparatus showing a portion thereof 111 open position in dotted lines; v Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional detall of the compressor showing the motor 1n full;

Figure 5 is an enlarged detall of the stufiing box for the compression chamber;

Figure 6 is an end view of the gear pump chamber with the cover plate removed.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout'the several views. r i

In Figure 1 I have shown a furnace, 1, having my apparatus erected in front thereof and supported by a pivot column, 22, revolvably mounted in the upper s eeve, 28, and lower sleeve, 29. The upper sleeve, 28, may be united to a brace,27, secured to the furnace by bolts, 2742, or any other suitable means. -The lower sleeve, 29, is formed integral with or suitably secured to the top plate of the tank, 21. The column, 22, is hollow and has pipes, 19 and 20,;secured therein as here after described. An arm, 25, is united to the 50 column,22, upon the outer end of which a base plate, 3, is rigidly united by a clamp, 26, or other suitable means.

For convenience, I refer to the left end of thebase plate, 3, as shown in Figure 1 as the frontand to the right end of it as the rear; The base plate,3, and arm, 25, are so proportioned that the front of the base plate, when'the column is revolved to the end of its throw in one direction, is adjacent the front of the furnace. An angle iron or bracket, 2, has its horizontal arm rigidly secured to the base, 3, by bolts, 3a, 'or other suitable means and its-vertical arm rigidly united to the fire door, 1a, by bolts, 2a, or other suitable means, the hinges of the fire door, 1a, being disconnectedso that the fire door is entirely sup ported by and travels with the base, 3.

Figure 3 shows in dotted lines the position of the base, 3, and firedoor, 1a, when the col umn, 22, is rotated so as to open the furnace door, and as'the relative positions of the fire door, la, base, 3,'and other parts of my apparatus are constant, the column, 22, maybe rotated for three quarters of a revolution and thefire door carried faren'ough away from the furnace to leave the stoke hole entirely open andgive free access to it. o

A latch, 1d, is provided to latch the fire door in closed position when closed and may be of any desired form.

Upon the base plate, I mount a motor, 4, securing it to the base, 3, by bolts, 4a, and to one end of the motor housing I attach by a press-fit or other suitable means, a com pressor housing, 6, which is supported by the motor housing and by a foot, 6 formed integral with the housing, 6, and which contains a compression chamber, 6d, and an inlet chamber, 66. f j V The motor shaft, 46, extends longitudinally entirely through the housing, 6, p ass-' .ing through a bushing, 33, with packing ring,'34, and packing nut, 31, secured thereon and also through a bushing, 15, secured in a. cover plate, 7, which is attached to the housing, 6, by set screws, 7a, and into a pump housing, 76, where it is fitted with a' spur gear, 12, of the type commonly used for gear 7 pumps, and the spur gear, 12, meshes with a corresponding gear, 12a, mounted in the pump chamber adjacent thereto. The pump housing, 76, is closed by a cover, 8, united thereto by set screws, 8a.

An inlet oil pipe, 14, has one end extending into the cover plate, 7, above the shaft, 46, and its other end extending downwardly into the compression chamber in the housing, 6, somewhat below the top of the oil level which is shown in Figure 4 by a dotted line. An outlet, 14a, passes through the cover plate, 7, below the shaft, 4?), and acts as an outlet for the oil and air driven out of the pump chamber by the spur gears.

An air pipe, 13, has one end mounted in the cover plate, 7, and its opposite end extending through the rear wall of the housing, 6, into the inlet chamber. Openings, 6a, are formed in the housing, 6, to permit air to pass freely into the inlet chamber, 66 and into the pipe, 13.

The front ends of the pipes, 13 and 14, are connected by conduits, 16, with the pump chamber in the housing, 7?), and provide the input to the gears, 12, and 12a. A set screw, 17, is threaded into the cover plate, 8, with its inner end adjacent the oil intake, 16, and the set screw, 17, may be adjusted so as to regulate and cut down the fiow of the oil through the pipe, 14.

In the upper wall of the compression chamber I mount an air gauge, 9, which may be of any of the well-known types in common use; also a safety valve, 10, of any desired type to vent air if the pressure gets too high.

An air pipe, 11, leads from the upper wall of the compression chamber to the burner, 18.

A T, 11a, is mounted upon the pipe, 11, and a pipe, 20, leads from the T into the arm, 25, and the column, 22, extending upwardly in the column to a return bend, 20a, and thence downwardly through a plug, 23, into the lower portion of the column which has an opening through the upper plate of the tank 21.

An oil pipe, 19, with a strainer, 19a, mounted upon the lower end thereof, is secured in the column, 22, and arm, 25, passingthrough the plug, 23. The lower end of the pipe, 19, extends downwardly into the oil tank, 21. The plug, 23, is fitted into the column, 22, with an air-tight fit andthe pipes, 19 and 20, are fitted into the plug with an air-tight fit.

The upper end of the pipe, 19, leads to the burner, 18, passing through a magnetic control valve housing, 30, having a cut-off valve control by thermostat. The burner is preferably of the type shown in my co-pending application above referred to, but may be of any desired type.

An electric control box, 5, is attached to the plate, 3, and may be of any desired type. The controlling apparatus is of the wellknown type which will operate the magnetic valve, 30, and close the supply of oil to the furnace whenever the temperature of the room reaches a given point and will likewise close the valve, 30, when the stack remains cold after the burner has been started and supplied with oil and air for a given period, to guard against flooding in cases where the fire goes out from any unexpected cause while the motor is running. A similar control apparatus is used to shut off the motor whenever the room temperature reaches a predetermined point as well as whenever the stack fails to heat up after the burner has been started. The same control apparatus will also serve to heat the ignition wires leading from the control box to the burner, which are contained within the conduit, 50.

The openings, 6a, are made large enough to permit the introduction of a screw driver or other tool by which the packing nut, 31, may be turned, said nut being provided with slots, 32, in which the point of the screw driver may be inserted for the purpose of turning the nut, 31.

Small lugs, 67), are formed integral with the housing, 6, in which set screws, 60, may be inserted to secure the housing, 6, to the housing of the motor, 4. The front of the furnace may be provided with a transparent inspection box, 10, and the ashpit door, 1?), may be opened in any of the usual ways to permit the introduction of an air draft to supply the necessary quantity of air to the burner over and above that furnished by the burner proper.

In the operation of my device, the tank, 21, is preferably used as an auxiliary tank and has a feed pipe 35 leading to it from the main storage tank 36. This feed pipe is supplied with the usual check valve 37 or other means to prevent the return of oil from the auxiliary tank, 21, to the supply tank, 36. The supply tank, 36, and supply pipe, 35, with check valve, 37, are shown diagrammatically in Figure 2, but as they are in common use, no special claim is made covering them.

In setting up my apparatus, the upper or bent portion of return bend, 20a, is located at or slightly above the extreme upper level of the oil in the main supply tank 36 so that no oil can flow by gravity from the supply tank to the burner through the pipe, 20. T herefore, no check valve is necessary in that pipe.

Before the motor is started, the compression chamber, 6d, is partially filled with lubrieating oil or other suitable fluid for sealing the gears, about to the level of the dotted line shown in Figure 4, through the conduit, 16, which is then closed by the plug, 16a.

1Vhen the motor is started, the action of the gear pump draws air through the pipe, 13, past the check valve, 130, by suction and also has a tendency to cause some of the lubricating oil to flow through the pipe, 14, into the pump chamber with the air, the oil acting as a sealing medium for the gear pump (at; A.

and the oil and air-then beingdriven by the action of the gears out throughtheoutlet,.

14a, and, into the compression chamber, 6d. The air being lighter than the oil, will separate from the lubricating oil, and as the air pipe to the burner and by the pipe, 20, to theauxiliarytank, 21, where itexerts pressure upon the oil there-in and drives it upwardly through the pipe, 19, to the burner, it being manifest that the pressures upon the oil and air lines -at the burner, will be equal, but

subject to, modification bythe adjustment of the burner nozzles or other adjusting means.

Vhen the tanks have been filled with oil, the apparatus is swung into the position shown in Figure 1 withthe furnace door closed, the burner nozzles being on the inside of the furnace door. It is obvious that when theburner is not in operation, the apparatus may be swung around on the pivoted column, 22, so as to open the furnace door and the furnace can then be firedwith coal or other fuel in the ordinary way or us'edto burn old newspapers, garbage, trash, etc.

So, also, if anything goes wrong with the oil'burning apparatus, the furnace may bev fired with coal or wood in the ordinary way and as the burning nozzles upon the inside of the furnace door are some distance away. from the fire pit as furnaces are ordinarlly no mea-nsby which the furnace can be fired until the burner is repaired, but my apparatus avoids this difliculty. r

The column, 22, is preferably formed of upper and lower sectionsunited by a T, 24, in; which the arm, 25, is secured in the usual way, butvarious forms of column and support for the base,.3, ma be used as desired, as I do not'limit my 0 aims to the precise forms shown in the drawings.

It is not intended that the entire supply of air necessary for perfect combustion shall be supplied to the burner, through the pipe, [1, but the air under pressure passing through thepipe, 11,.atomizes the fuel oil and a draft of air, regulated in the usual way, may be admitted through the ashpit door,.1b, the same as when air is supplied through the ashpit door when'coal is being burned and the quantity of air passing through the ashpit doorcan be regulated in the ordinary way,but to a large extent will be regulated automatically by the action of the flame o f-the burning oil.

It is also obvious that when a coal fire is burning in the furnace, it may. be augmented bymy burner and fuel supply apparatus and both coal and oil may be burnedat the same time. In such, case, thenecessary precautions will have to be taken. to open up thev bed of-coal sufficiently to permit an ample supply of air to the oil burner.

Theadjusting screw, 17, maybe so adjusted that the flow-of lubricating oil from thecompressioir chamber, 6d, into the compressor or gear chamber, will be so restricted that the oil cannot flow out through theair inlet pipe, 13, but I preferably insert acheck valve, 13a, in theinlet pipe, 13, to prevent anyrflowof the lubricating oil from the com.- pression chamber out through the pipe, 13; 7 Likewise, when the motor is stopped, in ordinary casesthe air outlet at the burner will be suflicient to bleed the compression chamber and'prevent a flow of lubricating oil outwardly through the inlettpipe, 13, but in cases where the adjusting screw, 17', will not be adjusted closely enough to prevent the escape of oilthrough the inlet, 13, or whenever the outlet of air through the burner is notsuflicient to bleed the compression chamber, a check valve may be inserted in the air" pipe, to prevent a flow of air therethrough in the wrongrdirection. v The lower-end of the pipe, 14, should extend sufficiently below the level of-the lubricating oil. in the compression chamber, 601, to prevent the escape of air through the pipe, 14. i f

7 It is obvious that a single main supply tank may beplaced underground and substituted, for the auxiliary tank and in such cases it will notbe necessary to provide the return bend 20a shown in the drawings, but the air pipe may lead directly from the compressor to the fuel supply tank.

It is likewise obvious that the air and oil conduits extending from the compressor to thetank and; from the tank to the burner.

need not be contained within the pivoted column, but the base and apparatus mounted thereon, may be supported upon any form of a pivoted or'movable support and flexible connections. may be madebetween the compressor and the tank andthe. tankand the.

burner.

While I have shown and prefer a gear compressor, it'is apparent that other forms of compressor may be used with my movable in a suitable housing, the motor shaft and; compressor shaftbeing formed integral, an;

chamber V air inlet chamber interposed between the motor and compression chamber, an air inlet leading from the air chamber to the compressor housing, an oil inlet leading from the ;lower portion of the compression chamber to the compressor housing, conduits leading from the inlets to the compressor, an outlet from the compressor housing to the compression chamber, an air conduit leading from the compression chamber and having one branch leading to the burner and another branch leading to the pivoted column and extending downwardly to the lower end of the column opening into the tank, an oil supply pipe leading from the tank to the burner, and an air-tight plug inserted within the column through which plug the oil conduit and the terminal end of the air conduit pass.

2. An oil burner feeding appliance comprising a fuel oil tank, a hollow vertical column pivotally mounted thereon with an opening extending from the bottom of the column into the tank, a supporting base united to the column, a furnace door united to the base, a burner mounted in the furnace door, a motor housing mounted upon the base with motor therein, a rotary gear air compressor and compression chamber mounted upon the base adjacent the motor in a suitable housing, the motor shaft and compressor shaft being formed integral, and air inlet leading to the compressor housing, an oil inlet leading from the lower portion of the compression chamber to the compressor housing, conduits leading from the inlet-s to the compressor, an outlet from the compressor housing to the compression chamber, an air conduit leading from the compression chamber and having one branch leading to the burner and another branch leading to the pivoted column and extending downwardly to the lower end of the column opening into the tank, an oil supply pipe leading from the tank to the burner, and an air-tight plug inserted within the column through which plug the oil conduit and the terminal end of the air conduit pass.

3. A feeding appliance for oil burners, comprising an auxiliary fuel oil tank, a hollow vertical column pivotally mounted thereon with an opening extending from the bottom of the column into the auxiliary tank, a supporting base united to the column, a furnace door united to the base, a burner mounted in the furnace door, a motor housing mounted upon the base with motor therein, an air compressor and compression chamber mounted upon the base adjacent the motor, the motor shaft and compressor shaft being formed integral, an air inlet chamber interposed between the motor and compression chamber, an air inlet leading from the air chamber to the compressor housing, con duits leading from the air and oil inlets to the compressor, an outlet from the compressor housing to the compression chamber, an air conduit leading from the compression chamber and having one branch leading to the burner and another branch leading to the column and extending upwardly therein to a predetermined height with a return bend therein, the terminal end of which leads downwardly to the lower end of the column thereby opening into the auxiliary tank, an oil supply pipe leading from the auxiliary tank to the burner, and an air-tight plug i11- serted within the column through which plug the oil conduit and the terminal end of the air conduit pass.

4. An oil burner feeding appliance comprising a fuel oil tank, a hollow vertical column pivotally mounted thereon with an opening extending from the bottom of the column into the tank, a supporting base united to the column, a furnace door united to the base, a burner mounted in the furnace door, a unitary motor, rotary gear compressor and a compression chamber mounted upon the base, the compression chamber being partly filled with lubricating oil, an air inlet to the compressor, an oil inlet from the lower part of the compression chamber to the compressor, conduits leading from the inlets to the compressor gears, an outlet from the compressor to the compression chamber, an air conduit leading from the compression chamber and having one branch leading to the burner and another branch leading to the pivoted column and extending downwardly to the lower end of the column opening into the tank, an oil supply pipe leading from the tank to the burner, and an airtight plug inserted within the column through which plug the oil conduit and the terminal end of the air conduit pass.

5. An oil burner feeding appliance comprising a fuel oil tank, a hollow vertical column pivotally mounted thereon with an opening extending from the bottom of the column into the tank, a supporting base united to the column, a furnace door united to the base,

a burner mounted in the furnace door, a

unitary motor, rotary gear compressor and a compression chamber mounted upon the base, the compression chamber being partly filled with a sealing fluid, an air inlet to the compressor, a sealing fluid inlet from the lower part of the compression chamber to the compressor, conduits leading from the inlets to the compressor gears, an outlet from the compressor to the compression chamber, an air conduit leading from the compression chamber and having one branch leading to the burner and another branch leading to the pivoted column and extending downwardly to the lower end of the column opening into the tank, an oil supply pipe leading from the tank to the burner, and an air-tight plug inserted within the column through which plug the oil conduit and the terminal end of the air conduit pass. 7

V 6. A feeding appliance for oil burners comprising an auxiliary tank, a hollow vertical column pivotally mounted thereon with an opening extending from the bottom of the column into the auxiliary tank, a supporting base united to the column, a furnace door united to the base, a burner mounted'in the furnace door, a motor and an air compressor mounted upon the base, an air inlet leading to the compressor, an air conduit leading from the compressor housing having one branch leading to the burner and another branch leading to the column and extending upwardly therein to a predetermined height with a return bend, the terminal end of which leads downwardly to the lower end of the column thereby opening into the auxiliary tank, an oil supply pipe leading from the auxiliary tank to the burner and an air-tight plug inserted within the column through which plug the oil conduit and the terminal end of the air conduit pass.

7 A feeding appliance for oil burners comprising a tank, a hollow vertical column pivotally mounted thereon with an opening extending from the bottom of the column into the tank, a supporting base united to the column, a furnace door united to the base, a burner mounted in the furnace door, a motor and an air compressor mounted upon the base, an air inlet leading to the compressor, an air conduit leading from the compressor housing having one branch leading; to the burner and another branch leading to the column and extending downwardly to the lower end of the column thereby opening into the tank, an oil supply pipe leading from the tank to the burner and an air-tight plug inserted within the column through which plug the oil conduit and the air conduit pass.

8. A feeding appliance for oil furnaces comprising an auxiliary tank, a furnace, a hollow vertical column pivotally mounted thereon in spaced relation to the furnace. a supporting base united to the column, the furnace door being united to the base and movable therewith, a burner mounted in the furnace door, a motor and an air compressor mounted upon the base, an air inlet leading to the compressor, an air conduit leading from the compressor having one branch leadwith, a burner mounted in the furnace door, a motor and an air compressor mounted upon the base, an air inlet leading to the compressor, an air conduit leading from the comressor having one branch leading to the liurner and another branch leading to the tank, an oil supply pipe leading from the tank to the burner, and an air-tight plug inserted within the column through which plug the oil conduit and the air conduit pass.

,In testimony whereof he aflixes his signature. BERT A. CLAYTON.

ing to the burner and another branch leading to the auxiliary tank, an oil supply pipe leading from the auxiliary tank to the burner, and an airtight plug inserted within the column through which plug the oil conduit and the terminal end of the air conduit pass.

' 9. A feeding appliance for oil furnaces comprising a tank, a furnace, a hollow vertical column pivotally mounted thereon in spaced relation to the furnace, a supporting base united to the column, the furnace door being united to the base and movable there- 

